But the one that mattered was the one stretching from my ear to the corner of my mouth. The one that was made with a bronze blade. The one Vidar gave me. I had once thought it a curse to beconstantly reminded of the day it all fell apart, but now I knew it was the day it all came together.
Vidar let his gaze roam over every bit of me before our eyes met again. He held out his hand, beckoning me closer and slowly, the two of us stepped into the tub, each settling opposite the other. The water was lukewarm at best after sitting near the fire, but we both thought it a luxury.
I longed to change, though. I longed to feel my fins and cut through the water like I used to. I hadn’t been able to do so in months without wondering if something was coming to collect me.
Closing my eyes, I sank deeper into the large, clawfoot tub, and leaned back against the edge with a moan. I listened as Vidar dipped a cloth into the water and began scrubbing his skin. We both fit in the water quite easily, but our legs met in the middle. I absently let my foot roam across his calf and up the inside of his thigh until I felt his sizable cock against the ball of my foot. He grew instantly harder when I stroked him and I grinned, lifting my head to meet his gaze.
He was staring at me with a sultry smile so I stroked him again, testing his control. I watched him suck in a breath as if I’d hit a nerve, but then he reached down into the water and wrapped his fingers around my ankle, stopping any further goading.
“Talk to me,” he said, catching me off guard.
“What do you mean?”
Lifting my leg partway out of the water, he ran the wet cloth over my skin in a slow, gentle manner from my ankle to my knee.
“That siren. She had hate in her eyes.”
“I’m Kroan. Most sirens hate us.”
“Why?”
“Because we have a violent history. You cannot tell me religion has not demanded your kind do horrible things in the past. Humans have many beliefs. The Kroan are Daughters of Akareth. We believe anyone who does not serve the father is a blasphemer.I wasn’t around during the purge, but it was talked about when I was growing up.”
“The purge?”
I cleared my throat, settling my arms on the edge of the tub. “Aeris is an Yri. A race of sirens I thought no longer existed. They had no god. They did not believe in Akareth let alone serve him. It was rumored that they did not even need to breed to have children. That they did not get called to the depths to be impregnated by our god. They claimed the ocean gave them children, which of course was heresy. Truth, evidently, is heresy.”
“Truth? So they do not need a man or anything else to give birth?”
“No. Many sirens need only be ready for their belly to grow offspring. I learned that when I was banished and I met Meridan and her sisters. But Kroans believe otherwise.” My eyes wandered to the hearth for a moment, soaking in the dancing flames as I recalled the stories. “It was foolish of me to think no Yri survived, I suppose. It was a whole population, after all. But, growing up, we were all told the Yri had been burned from the world.”
“What happened?”
“The Kroan descended on them in a battle that lasted less than a week. The Yri were not fighters. They had no song. They did not feed on humans the way others do. They were shamanistic and spiritual, so when my people attacked them, it was not a fight. It was a massacre. The Kroan are strong. Aggressive. We’re taught to fight early and we’re taught everyone is the enemy. The Yri had very few warriors whereas Kroans are not given a choice. We learn to fight and kill or we die. A whole clan of sirens was slaughtered almost overnight. My people intercepted them in their migration and ambushed thousands over a bloody few days, skryll after skryll.”
Vidar lowered my leg into the water and mimicked my posture, resting his arms on the edges of the tub. I watched him, waiting forhim to say something, but he remained silent. He had no right to judge me. Of all people, he had no right.
“When did the purge happen?”
“Nearly sixty years ago. My mother was a part of it. She had plenty of stories to tell. Were I born sooner, I would have been a part of it as well. I would have thought I was doing the right thing because that is what we’re taught.”
“And Meridan’s people? Why were they not treated the same?”
“The Naros also serve Akareth. They must. Deephome is too close to the depths not to feel his presence. Or… the presence ofsomething.”
“How many of you serve him?”
“Many. Or many pretend to out of fear.”
Vidar dipped his hands into the water and scrubbed his face. “Fear is the greatest power to have over someone.”
“Until it isn’t. Everyone gets tired of being afraid eventually.”
“Your history seems just as grim and twisted as ours. There have been many massacres in the name of religion throughout our history. And in the name of other, pointless things. There is no reasoning when all who fight believe there to be only one path. And behind it all, someone is always pulling the strings, playing us all like figures on a game board.”
Looking at Vidar eased some of my disgust. I never thought being close to him would feel like a salve on a festering wound, but it did. He soothed the ache in me in the most demanding, forceful way. The exact way I needed.
Slowly, I crept forward, easing closer to him until my chest was pressed against his and my legs were straddling his hips to accommodate the new position.
